Battle of Destiny

Battle of Destiny (BoD for short) is a 2D, fantasy-themed, side-scrolling action-MMORPG published by Cubizone. In both graphics and gameplay, BoD is a lot like the old-school side-scrolling fighting games commonly found in arcades.

Battle of Destiny Overview

Battle of Destiny is a side-scrolling action-MMORPG that both looks and plays a lot like Nexon’s incredibly popular Dungeon Fighter Online. One thing worth mentioning right away is that the official Battle of Destiny servers are located in Malaysia, so Western players with slower internet connections may experience some latency issues. Anyone that’s a fan of side-scrolling action-MMORPGs should certainly find something to like in Battle of Destiny. If you’ve already played Dungen Fighter, Battle of Destiny may be worth skipping, as the two games are remarkably similar. The game’s classes are:

Swordsman – Swordsman are the generic ‘tank’ like class in Battle of Destiny. They have the highest hit points and armor in the game, and make formidable opponents in melee range.

Fighter – Fighters are extremely similar to Swordsmen, in that they have high defense and are a melee-oriented class with one exception – they have a greater emphasis on dealing damage. Fighters are proficient with powerful fist weapons.

Archer - Archers are deadly with the bow. They are fast and agile, which allows them to deal damage rather quickly from a distance, but are vulnerable in melee combat. They tend to wear lighter armor than fighters and swordsmen, but heavier than what a Mage can wear.

Mage – Like in most games, the Mage in BoD is an offensive spell-casting class that is capable of dealing enormous amounts of damage from a distance. They have access to both devastating direct damage and area of effect spells.

Battle of Destiny Screenshots

Battle of Destiny Featured Video

Full Review

Battle of Destiny Review

By Jaime Skelton

Arcade fighting games are making a comeback – but it’s not on arcades, or even consoles. Instead, the side-scrolling, button-mashing, combo-breaking games are finding popularity in MMO form. Battle of Destiny is one of these arcade-style MMOs. Brought to us by Cubizone, the same company who publishes Soul of the Ultimate Nation and Perfect World in Malaysia, Battle of Destiny bears a great deal of similarity to Dungeon Fighter Online, although it is easier for those new to these kinds of games. Like Dungeon Fighter Online, Battle of Destiny is a 2D Side Scrolling ‘beat em’ up’ style action MMORPG.

Exiting the Clone Machine
If you’re hoping for a lot of customization, you might want to turn away now. Character creation is very limited for Battle of Destiny, although it still has more options than Dungeon Fighter Online. There are eight hair colors, and about as many hair styles, to choose from – and even less options for your clothing colors. Once you come up with a combination that makes you happy, and name your character, you then get to choose your main weapon – essentially your “class” in the game. Your choices are the melee oriented sword (Swordsman) or fist weapon (Fighter), the ranged crossbow (Archer), and magic (Magician). These choices will also determine your stat allocation, which is automatic. Unfortunately, the only real control you have over your character’s customization is allocating skill points.

The game begins you with a good tutorial, although the hint window was usually unnecessary, and often behind the times. Be prepared for a lot of poor English; some translations are so bad you can only get the general gist of what you’re supposed to be doing. Once the tutorial is finished, you’ll be set on a boat with Captain Haribo and arrive in the City of Dusk, the main area of the game. From here, the choice to quest or grind is yours, although quests do give bonus experience and money.

Beginning the keyboard workout
All combat takes place in small dungeons, which are instanced to you and your party. These are larger maps separated into several linked “stages,” each of which must be cleared to go from one stage to the next. Each stage is a small area in which you control your character and use attacks plus skills to defeat all the enemies present, which often include a mix of melee, ranged, and casters. Special mobs are denoted with a special circle at their feet, as are bosses, which will be found on the last stage of an area (entered through a red, instead of a blue, portal). When the stage is complete, you’ll receive experience and a ranking, the latter of which is based on your style, technique, and times you were hit. The better the rank, the better your experience and loot. Come to think of it, the progression in Battle of Destiny is nearly identical to the linear progression in Lunia Online.

Of course, all this fighting is going to require a lot of keyboard use – including hitting your attack button as often as possible (holding it down does not achieve the same effect). Thankfully, the game does allow for you to set up a joystick or other controller, but your fingers are still going to be getting a hefty workout through each dungeon. This is a good sign, though – gameplay is active and fun. What makes the instanced dungeon system so nice, though, is that you can play in short bursts, if you do need to rest your weary fingers.

Gearing up the gear
Like most other MMOs, Battle of Destiny also has an inventory and equipment system to boost your character’s abilities and defenses. Unlike most, however, you won’t see your character appearance change very often with gear – even through several sets of upgrades, my archer was still wearing the same red martial arts digs she got off the boat with. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever see your character look cooler (in fact, there are a great number of armor sets that do just that), but it does mean you’ll have to be used to looking vanilla. Your only option outside of armor upgrades for looking cool is the fashion system, if you’re willing to spend money in the cash shop or get very lucky with a drop.

Items are not static entities; they can be upgraded in two ways. The first is Item Activation. This system is free for items under level 30, but does cost varying amounts afterward based on item quality and level, and requires Activation Powder. By activating equipment, you unlock any special qualities that may have been hidden on the equipment, as well as reveal its true appearance on your character. Even at higher levels, activation can’t fail, so it’s one upgrade worth doing for any equipment you have.

The second way of upgrading equipment is through Item Enhancement. This process requires money, an Enhancement Stone, and preferably a Strengthen Stabilizer. Enhancement will increase the item’s attributes if successful, but will destroy the equipment and the enhancement stone if it fails. It’s a gamble no matter what, and while you can reach +30 enhancement to a piece of equipment, it’s going to take a lot of bravery to go that far. The only way to prevent the item loss is with the stabilizer, which will prevent the item from being destroyed.

There’s also one other system you’ll stumble across early in the game: the “Pet Club” lucky draw. By chance of drops, and by turning in certain amounts of items found in dungeons, you can earn Lucky Vouchers. These Vouchers can then be exchanged in town for a chest which opens up to reveal a surprise. This can be anywhere from a simple, common drop, to gold, to something rare – so you can’t guarantee what you’re getting. Still, you’re going to pick up a lot of these items in dungeons anyway, and they don’t sell well, so you might as well exchange them and see what luck you might get.

Real fighters PvP
It would be silly for any arcade-style fighting game, even an MMO, to not have a chance for players to duke it out with each other. Thankfully, Battle of Destiny has recognized this, and has offered players two options – duels and world dungeons.

Duels are a fantastic way to pit yourself against a player on friendly terms. By inviting a player to a duel while in town, you and the accepting opponent will be transported to a special map to see who will win. But before you think it’s all a matter of one versus one, be forewarned: any team mates with you, or your opponent, will be transported as well. This means battles can leave you with surprising fights of one versus three, since you can’t know for sure who, if anyone, is teamed up with your opponent.

Your other option for PvP, and the more exciting one, is the World Dungeon system. World dungeons are special maps that aren’t instanced. Not only are these maps shared with other players, but anyone can attack and kill anyone else in the world dungeon maps, team mates being the only exclusion. A death in these maps also means you risk losing a piece of equipment. So why bother going? The monsters are tougher, and that means they have much better loot – even if you’re competing for it. This system is a nice touch, adding something that will make players want to PvP.

Final Verdict: Good
Although my first impressions of Battle of Destiny were simply a poorly translated Dungeon Fighter Online clone, I found the combat more enjoyable, and the PvP systems a great addition to the game. Though it could use a lot of fine tuning for an English audience, the game is balanced well and offers a lot of fun options for any player new or experienced to an arcade-style fighter.